Matter of Trust
by Voyfemme
Summary: Chakotay and Janeway share a game of velocity and their thoughts on the crew looking back over the past year JC


**Part 10: A Matter of Trust**

Summary:

Chakotay and Janeway share a game of velocity and their thoughts on the crew looking back over the past year (J/C)

_Pairing:_J/C_Rating_: PG-13_Type of Story:_ Drabble_Level_: 1

**Part 10: A matter of Trust**

The competition was in earnest and the two people moving around the court were neck and neck in points. The disc whizzed and bounced off the walls as shot after shot from the tag phasers hit the intended target. Janeway saw the opening first and too late he understood what she had intended to do. He knew he couldn't stop it directly, but indirectly……

Chakotay dove and using his momentum to carry him part way and used his arms to make up for the rest of the distance. He shot. The beam hit the edge of the disc and gave it a spin that Janeway didn't anticipate because she didn't take into consideration that he would have used his body to make the shot. Too late she reacted. Her shot missed.

Boop

_Advantage; Chakotay. Game goes to Chakotay. _

He stood up triumphantly and grinned

"Gotcha!" He extended his hand to help Janeway up.

"No fair," she protested as she got to her feet. "You weren't supposed to use your natural physical attributes to make that shot. Where's the skill in that?"

Chakotay could not believe that she gave him such a perfect opening.

"The skill is knowing all of your assets and taking full advantage of them."

Janeway looked amused. "I said that didn't I ?"

"Oh yes!" Chakotay laughed.

"Computer…"Kathryn was giggling also. program Janeway one zero alpha"

Immediately their surroundings shimmered out. The velocity court changed into the bar at a spa. The stale air of the court had been transformed by holo-technology into the cool calming breezes of a Caribbean Island. The sea shimmered blue and gold in the background as afternoon materialized from the blinding holo-lights. The emptiness of the court was replaced by tables and chairs and the colour green. This colour came from the plants and shrubs dotted inconspicuously between discrete holo-guests.

"Nice" Chakotay said in appreciation.

"I figured that we would need a place to cool down a bit before going back to our Quarters. You're almost as bad as Seven, Chakotay. I really had to work for those two games that I won." Kathryn told him.

"Like Seven, huh, high praise."

A waiter came along and both Kathryn and Chakotay ordered drinks.

"Beginning to realize that she's going to make it through the transition back to human?"

"Yes." Chakotay leaned across the table and there was a twinkle in his eye as he continued.

The waiter came back with their drinks and Chakotay paused as they both took their drinks.

"I should have known better than to doubt you. After all, you already have two successful reclamation projects under your belt." He leaned back with a satisfied look on his face as Kathryn looked puzzled.

"What are you talking about?"

"Tom and B'Elanna"

Kathryn took a sip of drink as a memory hit her.

"hmm……." She lowered the glass. "I remember asking myself if those two would ever stop sparring and develop a true friendship. I didn't think that it would have gone beyond that. And definitely not to where they are now."

"I don't mind saying this, but I'm glad in that instance that I was wrong about him. Tom still gets under my skin sometimes, but he has turned his life around and earned my trust and the love of a great woman, who I never thought would trust herself enough to give it."

"Do you think that they will ever get married?" Kathryn leaned in close to him and gossiped enjoying it. They had too few moments alone together in the past few months, but then for the one month they were in stasis.

"B'Elanna a wife, and possibly a mother? I don't know if I can imagine it, but then again there are very few things in this journey that I could have ever imagined happening."

"True. Next thing you know, maybe in a few more years, Seven would be able to fall in love herself." Kathryn mused.

"Hah" Chakotay exclaimed. "I know a couple of crewmen who will be lining up for the honour."

"You?" Kathryn playfully teased him.

"Nah. Still too Borg for me. Besides, I tend to prefer women who are a little more mature, although I must say that it may prove interesting to be in a relationship with a former drone, from an alien point of view."

'True enough. You know, I've never met someone who just doesn't like to date women within their species like you Chakotay. Most people I know stick to their own. In fact Harry is the only person who comes close and she wanted to suck the life and DNA out of him."

"Jealous, Kathryn?" Chakotay asked teasing also, fully aware that he was on dangerous territory for both of them. But then what good is sparring with Kathryn if they were not on dangerous territory? It wouldn't be a relationship between them without it.

"No, why would I be?" Kathryn continued loving every moment of it. "You know, I almost feel sorry for any woman you end up with." Kathryn looked dangerous as she waited for him to take the bait.

"I think I'm a pretty good catch, don't you agree?" He side tracked the hook and hid in the bushes.

"True." Kathryn almost had him. "However, the reason that I would feel sorry for her is that she will always have me, our friendship to contend with. I don't know Chakotay, think any woman outside of your species can understand and handle that?" The leaves that were in the bushes formed a net to trap him. "Or will you stop being at my side when you take a mate?"

Caught him!

Advantage Janeway, Game goes to Janeway.

Chakotay accepted his defeat gracefully. "I am always here for you Kathryn, you know that?"

He was chuckling. _Damn that woman was good._ Kathryn joined him laughing making the sound of the victorious.

"Well…." Kathryn said getting back to solid ground. "…given how far she's come in the last year I'd say that it's a distinct possibility then. Let's she learned about _random acts of kindness_, made peace with B'Elanna…."

"Peace!" Chakotay exclaimed.

"Okay, at least she can work with her. And she seems to have started making friends among members of this crew. How about we leave it at that?"

"That, I can buy, still I wouldn't term it friends" Kathryn looked at him exasperated. Chakotay continued, "Let's just say that she stopped rubbing people the wrong way."

"Does that include my First Officer?"

"Well I wouldn't go that far."

"How far would you go?" Kathryn leaned forward as she asked her question, her hands clasped in front of her and her expression deadly serious.

"Why is this so important to you?"

"Why is it important to me that my First Officer be able to tolerate a member of my crew? I think that would be obvious."

"Whether or not I want to be in a crew members company while we're not working is not relevant to the efficient functioning of this ship."

"But were talking about tolerance and that would be, besides, you work better when you get to know people who are directly under your command. It's something that I have always noticed." Kathryn leaned back in her chair and looked pensive.

"True, but it doesn't mean that I can't work efficiently and effectively with strangers." Chakotay paused and then continued before Kathryn could comment further.

"But this isn't about the ship or the rest of the crew, is it? This is personal. You, Kathryn want me to like her to even become friends with her, not the Captain of Voyager."

Kathryn smiled. One day she would get something past him, but until that day……

"Yes I do." She admitted

"Whhyyy….?" He drew out the question, interested in her answer.

"Because I want all my children to play well together."

"Since when was I ever one of your children and in fact, when did Tuvok get demoted?" Chakotay chucked at that.

"Ok, Ok, you win, don' t become friends with her."

"I never said that I wouldn't, I'm just not there yet. Maybe I will be in the future, maybe I won't. Just give it time Kathryn. Patience." He commanded her. "Besides, don't forget that ship scuttlebutt has it going around that we are parents, to her and to the rest of the crew." Chakotay's eyes twinkled at her.

"Harumph" Kathryn countered. "I'd forgotten about that." She remembered something and leaned forward to face Chakotay again. "Why was B'Elanna my other reclamation project?" Chakotay's brow knotted in concentration as he considered how best to explain it to her.

"I know it started with integrating her into your crew as more of a Starfleet member instead of a Marquis, after a little prodding of course, to give her a chance."

"Of course, however I must point out that the little prodding was at the time a big shove."

"Clarification noted." Chakotay was all smiles as he continued.

"I think you wanted to give her another change to finish the academy and prove to herself that she could become a model officer. When you started out, you saw her changing who she was to fit the Starfleet mould to achieve that goal. However the Delta Quadrant had other plans for both of you and it changed both of you. You allowed B'Elanna to become who she was embracing the part of her that will always be a rebel and tempering it with the discipline that comes from Starfleet life."

"The Delta Quadrant had other plans for the both of us, huh?" Kathryn gave him a bemused smile, and she realized that Chakotay was not returning it. He seemed deep in though trying to put in words what he was thinking.

"We agreed to be a Starfleet crew, following Starfleet guidelines and protocols and it worked more or less, but on many occasions we had to improvise protocols because we were alone out here."

"Yes, we did." A shadow passed through Kathryn's face. She dispersed with it the thoughts that began to trouble her.

"That improvising of protocols opened up your mind to other possibilities, many of which B'Elanna proposed, changing you in a way you least expected. In the same way, B'Elanna, given responsibility realized how important protocols were when more than people's lives were on the line. When you had to be concerned after the battle of more that getting out of there more or less in one piece, she realized how much of people's well being were caught up in doing a job properly and as expected. She has grown to be so much more than the angry half Klingon that I rescued from the Cardassians."

Chakotay fell silence, but Kathryn noticed the look that crossed his face when he stopped speaking.

"What is it?"

"Just worried a bit about her that's all. She didn't take the news about the destruction of the Marquis very well, but she is the one member of the Marquis who's kept her nose clean during the period of mounting. It's just not the B'Elanna I know."

"Maybe this is just another affect of her maturing." Kathryn volunteered.

"Maybe" Chakotay acquiesced. He had been looking at the sun setting as he was talking. It was beautiful. Ribbons of gold and silver lined the horizon as the brilliant ball of orange descended. Reluctantly, he turned back to her to finish their conversation.

"I think that there's more in the relationship between B'Elanna and yourself than what I mentioned though. B'Elanna has been at odds with her mother for a long time. The rift was created over her heritage and as a result of the choices that she has made in her life. I think that you've become kind of like a mother figure to her...the one who would accept her choices and be proud of all she has accomplished instead of berating her for not accepting her Klingon Heritage."

"You really think so?" Kathryn stared at him in wonder, she would have never guessed any of that.

"Yes I do." He answered earnestly.

"You were talking about your children. So far you've had three daughters on this trip, two are still here. One figuratively in her early twenties, making it on her own, hoping to make her mother proud and the other has gone from terrible twos to rebel fifteen year old in one year."

"Oh hell yes!" Kathryn rolled her head back with that exclamation. Slowly she brought it forward.

"And in those times, I doubted my decision the most. The Hirogen/Species 8472 incident comes to mind. You know Chakotay, I did have the urge to take her across my knee once or twice during that period."

"But you didn't give up on her, and it's a good thing that you didn't. We would not have gotten through the Mutara Nebula, the Hirogen invasion and we may not have been able to destroy the Omega Particles without her. You told me before we went into stasis that there was something that said that she wanted to do right by us. It was instinctual for you and even though I was and still am wary of her, I trusted your instinct. I'm glad I did, it was and will always be good enough for me."

"Even when I'm wrong?"

"Especially and no."

"Depends, huh?"

"Yep" Chakotay hesitated for a moment and then continued. "Seven, the Borg is a blind spot for me, so I need to step outside of myself when dealing with matters which involve them, and of course…." He looked directly at her, "…ask for help from my best friend."

Kathryn smiled as she remembered.

"But here's the problem. What happens when it's my blind spot too, what do we do then?"

Chakotay snapped his fingers. "I know, let's take turns. This time you're right, the next time I am and so on."

Kathryn laughed, "Well at leas that way, we can keep the arguing to a minimum."

"Yeah, right. Like that's going to stop us."

Chakotay joined her and before they knew it, they were guffawing openly drawing stares from the other patrons because of the noise they were making. Chakotay sobered up first.

"It seems that there was a human after all under all that Borg technology, and I think that you've been through the worst of it."

"Maybe." Janeway looked pensive, "But I bet that this Quadrant isn't done with myself and Seven yet. I think we have a lot more adventures on Seven's way to full humanity. And then there's the Alpha Quadrant. I wonder what will happen to her when we get back?"

"I'm sure that Starfleet will run extensive tests on her and pick her brain to find out all that she knows about the collective. We may have defeated them, but we were fortunate. And even though we know about Species 8472, the Borg are still a big threat to humanity. Starfleet will want to use every advantage and Seven is a big part of that advantage against the Borg."

"But beyond that, I had always thought that in a way Seven would be able to help answer what is at the heart of being human. To put yet another spin on the nature vs. nurture debate. I mean think about it. Here is a person who has been Borg longer than she has been human, yet she has began to espouse all of the values that embrace the best of humanity within a year. Was it because she was born with the capacity or because we showed her and helped her along the way." Kathryn was serious as she questioned.

"It could just be who Seven, Annika Hansen is. Who knows, maybe if we had liberated another human being who was in the Collective as long as she was, he may have rejected our values. I don't know Kathryn, I think that Seven raises more questions than she answers in this debate." Chakotay answered her.

He added his own take to it as well. "I wonder if it were possible to disconnect every drone from the Hive mind, if the Borg would still exist. If the Collective consciousness is made up of unwilling drones, what consciousness is forcing their free wills into submission? Maybe if we disconnected all its biological arms, we might find out that the Borg is just a malevolent computer program that ran out of control."

"Somehow, I think there's a lot more to the Borg than that."

They lapsed into silence as the sun finally went down completely over the horizon and night set in. Janeway slouched back in her chair and relaxed. "Ohhhh, it's been too long since we did this."

"Remember how we used to do this once a year in the early days. I wonder why we stopped?" Chakotay felt as though Voyager was far away from him right now and with it his responsibilities as First Officer. Right now he was enjoying being with his best friend.

"Time I guess." Janeway mused. "You know it seemed to be so much easier in the first three years. I don't know why, but this year seemed a lot more difficult to get through, a lot darker."

Chakotay put his feet up on another chair as he considered her statement. "You're right, it's a lot darker, but remember how this year began. We hit Borg space and face an enemy more powerful than the Borg. I think that set the tone for the whole year."

"True, but the darkness is not coming from outside Voyager, but also on the inside. Look at what the crew has been through emotionally beginning with the loss of Kes. Seven is not the only one who's been through the wringer this year, the Marquis, B'Elanna, Tom even you and I."

"We, and now I am specifically talking about you and I, are better for it and I know others are as well. We made it through, we learned and we grew. You know what else I think?"

Kathryn inclined her ear to hear him. "I think we stopped doing our anniversary dinner because we are a lot more comfortable with each other. We don't need an occasion to talk to one another or barge into each other's life, we do it naturally now, every day.

Kathryn turned to face him squarely.

"I still marvel at the fact that four years ago, I didn't even know your name. One year ago, I couldn't imagine one day without you and by the end of _that_ day, I thought that I had lost you. Today, I'm glad that even though we have dealt some harsh blows to each other and to our relationship, you are still at my side….."

Chakotay placed his elbow on the table with the palm of his hand outstretched. Kathryn matched his gesture with her left hand and their fingers intertwined, just as they did two years ago as a symbol of their commitment to the friendship between them. A friendship that would stand the test of time

"…_.Always"_

The End.

**Part 11: Echoes of the Void**

7


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